Advice / Opinions on a basic setup

[tomthetree]

Hi all,

My girlfriend enjoys vinyl, and I'm looking to replace her recently broken hifi. Whilst she isn't an audiophile, she really enjoys the aesthetic and that 'vinyl' feel that I'm sure doesn't need describing here!

I have a budget of around £200 ideally: that's for a turntable plus amp & speakers. I appreciate this isn't a lot; my objective is to get her listening to her records again, she'll never have an interest in building a hifi system, and has an acute lack of space for one as well! With that in mind, I have a few ideas, and would greatly appreciate some feedback.

Amp / Speakers: Avoid amp altogether to save money and physical space

Audioengine A2 active speakers
These sound really solid for the price (around £140) - will be perfectly fine for her, and major upgrade from her prev. system.

Turntable:
This is where I run out of any expertise. From what I can see, the Pro-ject Essential is the best entry level turntable. Though, it doesn't have an onboard phono stage - could this be a hiccup? Advice appreciated.

These two items are a little bit outside of my range together - the other option I thought was to trawl ebay for second hand turntables.

Thoughts?

Cheers all!

[rhomanski]

For that budget, not much can be said. I guess just troll the cheap places for used equipment. Over here I see people saying all the time they found this amp at goodwill for 10 dollars and those speakers for 5 dollars. I never have of course. No goodwills or anything like that here. I've always had to pay top dollar for everything.

[Squiffything]

Unless you go second hand you're not going to get alot for your money. A cheap and chearful USB plastic deck and some speakers and that's about it I would say. You'll still need a pre-amp to boost the sound from the deck. I would not go down this route.

Going second hand and doing a bit of leg/mouse work may/will find you some very nice gems.

The pawn shops always seem to have amps/turntables/receivers/speakers for little money. Some of these might well have been good quality high price items in their day and will give a much better sound. Ebay has plenty for sale but you run the usual risk. Gumtree etc are local so you can have a look before handing over your pennies.

Good luck in your search.

[Squiffything]

Quick looksee on the bay and for your money you could have:

An amp:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dual-PA-5030- ... 3a76581a61

A TT:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Retro-Dual-50 ... 3f17605831

and a pair of speakers:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KEF-K120-Book ... 3cc797234b

All on a buy it now for £205 plus postage.

Not affiliated with any of the sellers and cannot comment on condition or quality but respectable makes and decent quality so better than the plastic fantastics you would buy for new.

[mickb69]

HI tom, where abouts are you based?

It's best to get what you can on local pick up where possible, especially with turntables, as they can easily end up in bad shape during delivery.
Definitely check out pawn shops like cash converters, there is allsorts of great stuff in them and you get a small warranty included in case it's no good, and they'll be happy to demo stuff.

[kalypso]

Pro-ject Essential is the best entry level turntable. Though, it doesn't have an onboard phono stage

The Essential is available with a phono-USB-preamp "onboard":

http://www.henleydesigns.co.uk/product. ... ductID=692

regards, kalypso

[mickb69]

That price is shocking for the matt black finish, I think it should be 180 quid for the matt black one.
And 215 quid for the gloss colours (black, red, or white).
If you get one, you can request the ortofon 2m red cartridge for no extra charge (I think)
instead of the om5e that is standard.

[PeterW.]

[quote="tomthetree"]Hi all,

My girlfriend enjoys vinyl, and I'm looking to replace her recently broken hifi. Whilst she isn't an audiophile, she really enjoys the aesthetic and that 'vinyl' feel that I'm sure doesn't need describing here!

After cutting out the additional in information, I am reading US$300 for everything. Means you _will_ have to go with vintage as you could pay that much for a cartridge alone.

Some advice: A vintage receiver with a phono pre-amp on board will also give you FM - nice when jumping up every 30 minutes to change records is not in the cards. Receivers 'don't get no respect' and may often be had cheaply relative to 'name-brand' separate components. And there are more than a few options from the Pacific Rim with very good FM sections. Harmon-Kardon, Onkyo, Hitachi, Sony and so forth all come to mind. Here in the US, a decent 30-50 watt receiver with good provenance may be had for $100 or less pretty much any day of the week.

Speakers: Well... I have found a pair of AR3as for $100 - in near-new condition. And a pair of Dynaco A25s for $9 in a thrift store. AR4x for $65 at a garage sale. All pure blind luck and all where I could see and test them first - critical with speakers in my opinion. So, $100 and a heavy leavening of patience for speakers is right enough. But, you may have to clean pots, check crossovers, perhaps re-foam... you get the picture. I will state categorically that there are _NO_ full-range, decent speakers made brand-new for less than US$150 each.

Leaving $100 for the TT & cartridge. Won't be new for a good one. May not be mechanically sound either at that price - so unless you can test it *for sure*, this is far-and-away the riskiest part of the adventure. I have seen decent Pioneer/Sony/Hitachi nothing-special TTs covered in dust needing nothing more than a belt + cleaning for (asking) $20 at garage sales. Were I in the market, I am sure I could dicker down to $10 or less. The rest for a decent cartridge and you are home-free.

This becomes easy if you are mechanically adept and have a little bit of patience and experience in restorations. My eyes (and ears) have always been much bigger than my wallet - so I learned restoration and repair early so I could go high-end on a shoestring.

Good luck with it!

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

p.s.: You may buy new USB-based TTs for your price and run through your computer - an exercise in low-fidelity frustration, but possible. And there are all sorts of "reproduction" combos out there in that price range. That they make my skin crawl is my hang-up, not necessarily yours.

[robgil]

Look on EBAY at systems http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/HiFi-Separate ... 708/i.html use the drop down box to ''nearest first'' and you should find something cheap.
People cannot post full stack systems and they sometimes sell for next to nothing as a result.

This is half an hour away from me and I reckon it will sell for a song.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kenwood-Stere ... 2a1f7301df

[robgil]

50 quid , 18 quid delivery.
Cant go wrong providing it is as described.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SONY-LBT-D105 ... 4ab95e5c3e


This is a lovely bit of vintage kit.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pioneer-Hi-Fi ... 19d2b021a4

[tomthetree]

Thanks for information all.

I'm thinking eBay / gumtree / local shops for some secondhand vintage gear is going to be the best option.

@mickb69 : I'm based in the South West, in Exeter. Agree local pickup would be good.

@PeterW : It sounds like a good way to approach things, I'm not adverse to repairing this sort of gear, though lack experience.

@Squiffything, @robgil : thanks for posting links to that gear. That Pioneer Hifi looks brilliant!

One option I'm still considering for the space aspect is a secondhand TT + a secondhand preamp + the audioengine speakers I linked to in the opening post. Will be easier to transport to London, and will fit into her room more easily than a fully fledged hifi system.